Freaks of the Weather To continue the Englishman's favourite subject,
the weather (incident- ally described in most of its manifestations in The Garden, Sackville- West's most accurate epic), the May frosts were nearly as eccentric as the thunderstorm. In the Cumberland Lakes even the oaks and beeches were severely cut and tenderer things of lower growth shattered ; yet a mile or two higher up in the valley not a leaf or flower, even of half- tropical plants, took any damage. Everyone who plants or be-shrubs a garden should know the history of the site ; and how far it is vulnerable to frost. Strawberries and first early potatoes must be protected in almost any still valley, in the South as well as in the North ; and even such tolerably hardy shrubs as Rhus C,otinoides or Buddleia Globosa or Japanese Maple are in danger from spring frosts. Varieties of apples, again, ought to be correlated with the site ; and now the more or less vulnerable sorts have been determined.
Previous page
